The Europa League Conference match between Tottenham and Rennes, scheduled for Thursday, has been postponed due to too many positive cases of Covid-19 within the London club, the English club announced on Wednesday, including eight players and five staff members tested positive for Covid-19.
We can confirm that our UEFA Europa Conference League Group G home fixture against Stade Rennais will not take place tomorrow after a number of positive COVID-19 cases at the Club.
Full statement ⤵️
- Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) December 8, 2021
"We can confirm that our Europa League Conference home match against Rennes will not take place tomorrow," Spurs wrote in their statement, adding that "discussions were continuing with UEFA" on the rescheduling of the match.
This decision is preventive in nature, since under UEFA regulations, which stipulate that a match must take place as long as the two clubs have at least 13 able-bodied players, including a goalkeeper, the match was not initially threatened. .
The players from Stade Rennais, who have already taken off for England, were in Tottenham, in the northern suburbs of London, on Wednesday evening.
Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg positive?
“Following discussions with the British Health Security Agency and DCMS advisers, part of the training center reserved for the first team was temporarily closed, in the interests of the health and safety of the staff. players and staff ”, also informed the English club.
“Every day, there are people with Covid who were not positive the day before.
The situation is not good, ”added Spurs coach Antonio Conte at a press conference.
No names of positive people are known at this time.
But Danish midfielder Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, who was to accompany Conte to the press conference, was canceled at the last moment.
Multiple repercussions to come
These cases of Covid could also have consequences for the league matches to come, in Brighton, Sunday, then against Leicester on Thursday, and Liverpool, the following Sunday, while Spurs have just returned to the C1 race with three Premier League rank wins.
According to the English press, the club is already planning to request the postponement of its Sunday match in Brighton.
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Tottenham do not appear to be the only English club affected by the coronavirus.
At the end of the afternoon, Leicester coach Brendan Rodgers announced that seven sick players, "some of whom have tested positive for Covid", without specifying the number, would go missing in Naples, Thursday, for a decisive Europa League match.
The health pass required at the entrance to sports grounds
This situation is part of a general context of renewed contamination - 45,000 per day in the United Kingdom - and the discovery of the new Omicron variant.
It is all English football, even European, which will now hold its breath to hope not to relive the nightmare of spring 2020 when football stopped from March to May.
While the Bundesliga has already decided a return, for some matches, behind closed doors, to contain the spread of the virus, in England the British government announced on Wednesday that from December 15 proof of vaccination would be required at the entrance of all English sports arenas of more than 10,000 people, a measure already in force in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.